By Caleb Heeringa, Deputy Press Secretary for Beyond Coal
“What do you do when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn’t shining?”
This is a common refrain from those that doubt our ability to move our electricity grid off of fossil fuels and towards clean energy. That group includes some of our state's largest utilities like Puget Sound Energy and Avista, who are hard at work in Olympia trying to weaken House Bill 1211 and Senate Bill 5116, historic legislation to move Washington State to 100 percent clean electricity.
These fossil fuel-friendly skeptics aren't paying attention to trends in the electricity sector that are making clean energy like wind and solar flexible, reliable and cheap. The rise of storage solutions like utility-scale batteries are a game-changer in the clean energy world, pairing with wind and solar to ensure that clean energy is available at times of peak electricity demand.
Just across the state line in Oregon, a utility just announced last week that it would be building the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, which will be the largest pairing of wind, solar and battery storage in North America. The project will provide 380 megawatts of clean energy - about the same output as one of the fracked gas plants that utilities are pushing to build. Located just south of the soon-to-be-retired Boardman coal plant, the project will provide up to 300 jobs during construction.
We've only scratched the surface of the potential for these kinds of projects, and Washington State would see more of them if we pass 100 percent clean electricity legislation. When combined with increased energy efficiency measures, rooftop solar, demand response, and better integration between utilities, we are moving to a world where we no longer need fossil fuels and the increasing climate disruption they bring to the Pacific Northwest.
House Bill 1211 and Senate Bill 5116, which legislators could vote on in the coming weeks, would be a huge win in the fight against climate change. It would:
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Phase coal power out of our electricity by 2025, accelerating the closure of out-of-state coal plants like Colstrip and Jim Bridger that are among the largest single sources of climate pollution in the American West;
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Create interim emission reduction targets starting in 2030 that would prevent unnecessary and costly near-term build out of new fracked gas plants that are nearly as bad as coal for climate when upstream methane leaks are taken into account;
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Increase investment in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency;
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Provide more assistance for low-income Washingtonians and investments in more heavily impacted communities transitioning away from fossil fuels;
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Make Washington State’s electricity fully powered by 100% clean energy by 2045.
Tell your state senators to support this legislation now!